News

10/23/2014
Fears that leaky septic systems had for years caused levels of fecal bacteria exceeding state standards for recreation at a ditch on Chicken Ranch Beach were put to rest last week, when cutting edge DNA test results ruled out human waste as the culprit. Scientists who analyzed the tests believe...

10/16/2014
Shoreline’s administrators won county approval for this year’s budget, but they are continuing to seek out possible reductions to eliminate structural deficit spending. Last Wednesday, the Marin County Office of Education gave their approval to a revised budget that contained $1.39 million savings based on 16 layoff notices the board...

10/16/2014
Two hikers in Samuel P. Taylor State Park this week spotted what looked like 20 marijuana plants, but a team of state rangers and two sheriff ’s deputies discovered about 1,000 when they went to investigate near an area called Crystal Springs, according to Lt. Doug Pittman, spokesperson for the...

10/16/2014
Walter Murch’s job is to make sure you don’t notice his work, practicing the invisible art of sound and film editing, or as he might describe it, maintaining the appearance of the dream. His daily routine consists of cobbling together individual photographic frames into moving images, from there into meaningful...

10/16/2014
County supervisors moved ahead last month with plans to assume ownership of a tract of land near San Geronimo Creek, a 7.2-acre parcel owned by a convicted marijuana grower who built a real estate empire across northern California and watched it crumble from behind bars in federal prison. Joshua Lonetree...

10/16/2014
At the first candidate’s night in eight years, three incumbents and a challenger running for a trio of seats on the Bolinas-Stinson Unified School District’s board spent the better part of Tuesday night discussing the district’s $9 million general obligation bond headed to voters next month. The bond will “improve student access to instructional technology; make health, safety and handicapped accessibility improvements; modernize outdated classrooms, restrooms, and school facilities; and renovate the multi-purpose room,” the ballot language says...

10/16/2014
This past summer, instead of strapping on bags filled with water bottles, sandwiches and trail mix, Google staffers slipped on backpacks outfitted with Google Trekkers, a strange blue sphere that hovers above one’s head and has big cut-outs for cameras that snap photos in all directions every few seconds. The employees hiked in 14 of California’s state parks, including Samuel P. Taylor, Tomales Bay State Park, Mount Tamalpais and China Camp. Thousands of images were assembled into trail versions...

10/16/2014
Over 170 birds in California are threatened or endangered because their climactic ranges are expected to shrink by half by 2080, according to a major study released last month by the National Audubon Society. The study, which took seven years to complete and assembled data from Christmas bird counts across...

10/16/2014
A fire burned on Tuesday morning across four acres of Roy’s Redwoods, a 292-acre preserve in Marin’s Open Space District just east of Nicasio Valley Road and home to home of the county’s oldest redwood trees. Fire officials say evidence indicates that humans started the fire, although it is not clear whether it was accidental or intentional. No injuries have been reported, and an investigation is...